An evening with Superman
by kagome04
Summary: Batman and Superman have a discussion about their lives and what drove them to become superheroes. Set right after they find out about each others identitites


It was a still quiet night in Gotham; however it was still early in the evening and Batman had just started his patrol. He heard him before he saw him before he even spoke he knew he was there and he was instantly irritated. What was he doing here?

"Hi Bruce" Clark said cheerily.

"What are you doing here?" he asked animosity and irritation strong in his voice. He hated how perky he always was.

"Nice to see you too" Clark answered

"What are you doing here?" he repeated growing more irritated by the minute. He didn't have time for this! He still had a full night of patrol ahead of him before he could go home. Then he had paperwork to catch up on and an early board meeting at Wayne enterprises.

"C'mon Bruce I thought that you would be happy to see me. I mean now that we know each other's identities we can get together all the time!" Clark said smiling.

Bruce grimaced at the thought. "Great" he muttered.

"Anyway I just wanted to drop by to say hi and see how you were doing but I'm getting the feeling I'm not wanted." "Are you not comfortable with me being here?"

"I'm not comfortable with you period."

"Oh"

"Is it because you found out I'm an alien?"

"That's part of it."

"What's the other part?"

"I don't trust you Clark. You or your powers"

"Look I don't really feel comfortable with you either and I don't really like you or trust you or your methods but I was hoping that we could talk and come to an understanding."

Bruce sighed weighing his options. He did want to know more about Superman but he had so much more of his patrol to finish and then he had paperwork and a meeting. But he supposed he could move all that around. But the patrol…he couldn't move that around and he couldn't put it off. No he had to do it now.

"Ok" he said finally. "But I have to move some things around first and I have to finish my patrol."

"Ok well let me help you I can take half the city and you can take the other half it will be faster."

"NO! I will not be helped by the likes of you! Go wait at the house and I will meet you there when I am finished."

"Alright, Alright fine."

"Fine"

With that Batman took off into the night.

Clark couldn't put his finger on what bugged him so much about Bruce. The man just irritated him he didn't like him at all. How could anybody be that suspicious and distrustful of people all the time? When Bruce pulled into the batcave Clark was there waiting for him. Bruce dispensed with the usual small talk and pleasantries and Clark didn't seem to mind. After all why should he waste time pretending he liked him?

"Do you want anything to eat or drink? You do eat don't you?"

"No actually I only drink blood." Clark said sarcastically.

Bruce stared at him for a minute as if he almost believed him.

"Of course I eat!" Clark shouted angered and annoyed.

"Well how am I supposed to know? I've never met an alien before. You are an alien right?"

"Yes." Clark said irritably.

Bruce noticed that the word alien had visibly stunned him. He reacted as if Bruce had insulted him instead of just stating a fact.

"Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to ask me? Clark asked. He was now annoyed and aggravated and just wanted to get home. Why had he done this again?

"Yes. Do you sleep?"

"Yes, I sleep eat and pretty much do all the other functions normal humans do."

"But you're not human."

Clark sighed exasperated. "No I'm not."

"So how can you function like one?"

"I don't know I just do!" Clark said losing his patience. He had had enough of this interrogation! He was seriously regretting that he had ever had the idea to do this.

Bruce was slightly taken aback.

After taking a moment to regain his patience Clark said. "I don't know I've just always been able too."

"So that's why you've always been able to blend in with other humans."

"Yes."

"And why no one has ever suspected you were an alien."

"Yes."

"Hmmm…interesting" Bruce said scratching his chin.

"I've always tried my best to 'fit in' as a human and to not draw attention to myself. That means no use of my powers when I'm not in my superman costume.

"I see. And you're sure the only one of your kind? The only one left I mean?"

"As far as I know, I've never met another person like me. Sometimes I feel really alone."

Bruce grunted "You have no idea what it's like to be alone."

"Well I feel alone sometimes because there is no one else like me and no matter how much I try and fit in with this world and its people I will always and forever be apart. That's what I mean by feeling alone."

"That's **feeling** alone, that's not **being** alone there is a difference. You have people, you have parents and friends and..." Bruce stopped as his voice began to crack. "You have people you don't know what it's like to be alone." He said softly.

"But you're not alone you have Alfred."

"I guess." Bruce said softly. "But anyway let's get back to you."

"How on earth did your parents hide you? I mean hide the fact that they found you in a spaceship? That you had powers? That you were an alien?"'

"As I said I did as much as possible to fit in and as little as possible to draw attention to myself and my parents inbred that in me as well. "

"Do you know anything about your real parents?"

"A little, my father's name was Jor-el and my mother's name was Lara. I come from a family called the house of El. I don't know much about my mother. My father was a scientist and in fact he built the spaceship that carried me to earth. "

"So do you have a Kryptonian name?"

"Yes, it's Kal-el."

"That makes sense."

"I've only ever told that to my adoptive parents and you."

"Really?"

"Yes no one else knows about my identity."

"Hmmm…that's interesting."

"Yes and I was hesitant to even tell my adoptive parents about it because they always have feared that the more I learned about myself and my true heritage the more it would take me away from them which it hasn't at all."

"Is it true nothing can hurt you?"

"Yes, well so far nothing has been able to." Clark said lying through his teeth. In fact he had only found one thing that would be able to hurt him, Kryptonite. But he wasn't about to tell Bruce that. He barely knew the man and he still wasn't sure if he was friend or foe.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well you see I don't know that much about my anatomy or how my body works and so I don't know what could possibly hurt me." All I know is that so far no weapon or man-made anything has been able to hurt me. And I don't know if we will ever find anything that will."

"That's very interesting." Bruce said methodically stroking his chin again.

"Why do you do it?" Bruce asked. "Why be a superhero? Why not just keep it to yourself and live a peaceful normal life?"

"Because I figured I have these powers and I should do something good with them, you know help people."

"Really, that's it?" Bruce asked incredulously. "You just woke up one day and said I'm going to be a superhero.'

"Well sort of yah."

"Why do you do it?" Clark asked

"It's a long story."

"I have plenty of time."

"We were talking about you."

"Now we're talking about you. I've told you everything you wanted to know about me and I don't know anything about you. So come on spill, why do you do it?"

Bruce looked at him. The man obviously wasn't going to back down and Bruce was pretty sure he couldn't stare him down. He would have to try another tactic. He tried distraction and diversionary tactics. Showing him around the cave and telling him what everything was, how it worked and where he had acquired each unique item. But Clark couldn't/ wouldn't be distracted.

"You know there is really nothing very interesting about me."

"I find that very hard to believe." Clark said

Finally in a last ditch effort to divert Clark's attention and make him forget about everything he had asked he called on Alfred and asked him to tell Clark the history of the house. He knew that Alfred loved to tell the story of the house and its history and he knew it could take a while to tell, possibly hours if Alfred stretched it out properly. He was hoping Clark would get bored, give up, and go home. But Clark was resolute and would not give up that easily. In the middle of Alfred's lecture he put his hand up to silence him.

"I'm sorry Alfred I don't mean to be rude but I am really not interested in the history of the house."

Then he turned to Bruce. "These diversionary tactics are not going to work. I want an answer why do you do it?"

Bruce looked him straight in the eye and sighed defeated. He was obviously not going to win this one. Clark was too determined. Oh well he thought maybe I can just give him an abridged version of the story or make up a complete lie. Before either of them could say anything Alfred's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"If there's nothing else sir?"

"Oh yes, yes thank you Alfred." Bruce had almost forgotten the man was even there.

Bruce sat down at a chair near the computer table and Clark sat facing him. For several minutes there was silence there was just the two of them staring at each other.

"So"

"So"

"You really want to know huh?"

"I am all ears." Clark said as he sat up excitedly in his chair.

"Alright fine but don't say I didn't warn you."

Bruce took a big heavy sigh. "When I was eight years old I felt that I could do something that I could be somebody in this city, but in a different way than my father was. I felt that I could really make a difference in this city. I felt that I could do this by being actively involved in the process you know?" "Actively involved in the saving and restoring of the city."

"And you decided all of this when you were eight years old?" Clark asked incredulously.

"Well yes…Something… something happened when I was eight years old."

"Oh yah?" Clark asked intrigued. He could never have prepared for what was coming next.

"Yes. My parents were murdered."

"Oh my God." Clark gasped astonished and horrified.

"Yes,they were killed right in front of me." Clark gasped again he couldn't help himself his eyes were wide with disbelief and terror.

'Oh my God." He said again. "Wow. I had no idea. So that's why you do it? After that you decided to become _this_?" He asked gesturing to the cave around him. He couldn't believe that something like that could turn a person into what he saw before him. It was so…extreme.

"And what would you have done huh? Nothing I suppose. Well I couldn't do that. This was really the only option."

"What?" Clark started then stopped. He was still in shock from the information he had received and he could see he was going to get nowhere with this line of questioning. Bruce obviously didn't think there was anything weird or abnormal about the choice he had made which was what Clark didn't get. It really confused him.

"You never thought of just living a normal life?"

"What exactly is normal?" Bruce asked

"You have everything!" "Everything you could ever want!" "You don't have to work. You could live a complete life of leisure and never have to do anything!" "Why do you do this?"

"Because I wouldn't be satisfied just existing on the Wayne family name and fortune.

"Why not? Man if I had what you had…"Clark trailed off.

"What do I have?" Bruce asked as if it was nothing to him.

"Money, power, money."

"You really think money is that important huh?"

"It is when you don't have any."

"Let me tell you something Clark, all the money in the world is meaningless if you don't have a family or anyone to share it with. It is completely meaningless if you don't have anyone in your life. Money is not going to bring my parents back so it is useless to me.

Clark couldn't believe it. He was dumbfounded. Here Bruce had the entire world on a silver platter. He could have anything he wanted just by asking and he didn't even care!

"I just don't get it Bruce. You could have or do anything you want and yet you choose to spend all your money on this stuff and dress up like a bat every night and fight crime.

"You just don't get it and you can't really.I can't really explain it. All I can say is when something like that happens to you it changes you. And unless something like that happens to you, which hopefully it never will, you can't possibly understand."

There was silence for a few moments.

"Anyways…" Bruce started. "Weren't we talking about you?"

"We were now we are talking about you."

"Hmmph." Bruce grunted. "What do you want me to say Clark?"

"Look I told you everything that you wanted to know about me. I answered all of your questions. Now I want to know about you."

"There's nothing to know!" Bruce shouted angrily. "I've told you everything already!"

"Alright, alright you don't have to get so upset about it." Clark said standing up. "I'll just go."

As he started to walk away Bruce turned to face him. "Clark, wait, what was it like growing up on a farm?"

Clark stopped and turned around to face Bruce. "I'll tell you if you tell me what it was like growing up rich in this mansion" he said smiling.

"Fine sit down and I'll have Alfred pour us a cup of coffee."


End file.
